Riders of the Storm, Equestrian Stunt Team, Scotland

Riders of the Storm, Equestrian Stunt Team, Scotland
Riders of the Storm

3 September 2012

Shamus’s Shenanigans


 

 
Well, me and my field friends have had a very busy summer, but we did manage a few sneaky days off lazing around in the field and rolling in the mud. I’m going to tell you a bit about my adventures............

 

I set off in the lorry with my friends, Drino, Sunny and George. In the very early morning, Kirsty (my mum) had told me we were performing in somewhere called Dumfries and that it’s very far away so we would have a long journey ahead of us. I didn’t mind this as I’m quite used to travelling now, going to lots of different lovely places, plus mum gives me an extra haynet!

When we arrived at Dumfries it was a lovely sunny day. As I enjoyed a munch of grass, my girls (humans that perform on my back) brushed and cleaned my coat ready for my show. Lots of people started to arrive at the showground and wanted to say hello to me. I am the star of the show after all. The girls tacked us up and got into their costumes. Drino and George were going to be in the grand parade carrying my mum and one of my girls, Beth. When they left for the parade, it was great because our lorry was parked just off the main ring so I could watch my friends and check they were behaving accordingly. I especially wanted to keep my eye on George, he’s a very cheeky pony!!

The parade started with lots and lots of cows, young ones, old ones, big ones, small ones and even lots of different colours. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many cows and I used to live on a farm! I then noticed it had started to rain, I hoped it would stay off for my show as I’m not a big fan of the rain. We had our rugs put on hoping the shower would pass, but it didn’t. The rain started to get heavier and heavier and the crowds of people started to panic, they ran in all different directions trying to find some shelter. I went straight back into my box to shelter from what had become a thunder and lightning storm. The cows all scattered back to their trailers and I had started to worry about my friends. Drino and George, where were they? What could have happened to them? Soon after, I heard the sound of their hooves as they trotted back through the almost deserted show ground. I was very glad my friends were back. My girls quickly got my friend’s rugs on and them back into the lorry where they were dry.

My mum dried us all off with a towel so we didn’t get cold. While Suzie fed us carrots, Amanda reassured Sunny as he was quite scared due to the thunder and lightning. I had already told him he needed to be very brave and that it would be over soon. I don’t think he believed me so I nuzzled into him so he felt safe.

It did pass. Eventually!!!

 I overheard my mum getting a phone call from the show organisers; unfortunately they had to cancel the show. I was a little upset by this as I love performing in front of people, especially when they all cheer for me! When I peeked my head out of the lorry, the arena was full of water. I decided very quickly, that I was quite happy in my lorry eating hay, rather than being out in all of those puddles.  My girls got everything packed up and we left, heading to our second show location of the weekend, Mountains Animal Sanctuary.

 

I woke up early on Sunday morning as my mum came in to greet me and my friends and give us our morning cuddles. Then she proceeded to make my breakfast, give me fresh water and hay, and clean out my bed. I have her very well trained. We had a walk around the sanctuary to meet all the friendly new faces. Annie, the new baby donkey, came over to say hello. I was a little bit scared of donkeys, they make very loud noises and I’m not quite sure why. We were then left to relax in our stables while my girls rehearsed the show. We had three shows to perform at the sanctuary, Wild West, Scottish and our new Charlie’s Angels show so it was quite exciting. 

 

Every performance went perfectly, even my new Charlie’s Angels show. We had lots of people come to say hello, patting us and having our pictures taken. I loved being a star for the day. One lady even offered to buy me, she thought I was wonderful. I wasn’t worried though, my mum says she loves me and that I’m worth my weight in gold. I had a lovely day at the sanctuary and love that me and my friends can help raise money for all those horses and ponies. Every horse, pony and donkey deserves a loving home, I’m glad we could help. After a busy weekend, I can now head back to my home to see my other friends, I think I’ve had quite enough adventures for one weekend!

 

I will keep you up to date with my next adventures..........

 

If you would like to come and try some activities with me and my girls, you can!

 

NEW OCTOBER HOLIDAY CAMP DATES!!!

 

 9th & 15th October Trick Riding 10.30-3.30pm £35 per day or 2 days for £60.

Vaulting camps 10th, 11th, 17th & 18th October £25 per day or 2 days for £40.

 

BOOK NOW on 07784119377 or email info@ridersofthestorm.co.uk

 

Till next time

 

Shamus

 

 

 

 

 

30 May 2012



What a start to 2012!

The start of 2012 has gone in a whirlwind for Riders of the Storm. We had our first show of the season at the Easter Fun Day at Camperdown Park in Dundee. We took Shamus, Brego and Rocky (the normal crew of horses) but we also brought Sunny along for his first ever show! Camperdown was a pretty scary place for Sunny, with the fairground rides, inflatable slides, kids running everywhere with honk horns and foam hammers, all being new to him. I decided to ride him round the park before it opened to the public so we could go and have a good look at all the scary rides and see what noises and movements each one made. With him now at ease with all the rides, we when back to the lorry so Sunny could munch on some hay before the show began. Suzie rode Sunny beautifully in his first ever show and he didn’t put a hoof wrong. The other horses were all perfect and remembered their jobs from last season and all the new training. Shamus was full of beans for our free vault (vaulting on him galloping round the outside circle while not on a lunge) he showed me a new flight of speed! It’s always fun, but the faster the better! 

The following weekend we were off to the Glasgow Vet School Rodeo so this was a perfect chance to try out our new Wild West show!! Sunny joined us again this weekend but unfortunately I had to leave Brego at home. We were in a very small arena and Brego is just too fast to trick ride in there so Sunny became my horse for the day. We did 3 performances that day to help raise money for sick and injured animals, all of the performances were jam packed with people wanting to watch the action. Unfortunately some people just couldn’t fit and had to be turned away, but hopefully they will be able to come and visit us at another show this year. Sunny trick rode with me for the first time which went extremely well and I was very pleased with him. After our final performance, we packed up, got some ice creams (necessary because of the heat) and headed back home to Perthshire.
 
 Back at home we have had some horses in for re-schooling and backing.  A lady that had previously attended one of our confidence courses brought her horse to us and we were able to re-school the horse and get the horse and rider happier while riding and hacking out together. We had various other horses in for backing and are now off starting their careers in lots of different disciplines. If you are one of these owners please send us some pictures and let us know how you are getting on! I love to see how they progress after they leave us. There are spaces available for backing or re-schooling from the 11th June.

MOST EXCITING NEWS: We are going to be featured on BBC landward!! So set your boxes to record on the 8th June BBC2 7pm. They came last week to film us in the scorching heat of 28 degrees. Filming went very well and they got lots of action shots galloping through the woods, vaulting and trick riding. They even had their presenter Ewan learning to Trick ride so it’s definitely worth a watch! 


MORE EXCITING NEWS 
Such has been the success of Rider's of The Storm first year that we've successfully secured a local sponsor in Hettie's Tearooms, Pitlochry!   Fuelling us Rider's with their gorgeous blends of loose leaf tea Hettie's are also offering a financial and support based package to help us grow and develop even further. Apparently our youthful enthusiasm and dynamic go get 'em attitude impressed them sufficiently! We're looking forward to a great partnership developing!


 For those of you that fancy yourself as a vaulter or trick rider we have some camps coming up

4th and 5th July        Trick Riding Camp
18th and 19th July     Vaulting Camp
1st and 2nd August   Trick Riding Camp
8th and 9th August    Vaulting Camp


We also do private and group Lessons, Experience days, Birthday parties and Lecture demos perfect for Riding clubs or a group of friends!


Happy riding everyone


Kirsty
Riders of the Storm

www.ridersofthestorm.co.uk
info@ridersofthestorm.co.uk

19 December 2011


Hi Ladies and Gents,

Well we've been busy little bee's since our last update!

Where to start........ we performed our last show of the season on the 3rd of December near Forfar to raise money for Mountains Animal Sanctuary. We raised approx £900 for this great cause and thanks so much to everyone that came along to make it such a success!!!
 It was our first indoor performance and a lovely RDA arena so we where very exciting. Back stage the horse where provided with wonderful stables on which each door had a name of the RDA horse it belonged too. The younger members of the team thought it was hilarious to change our horses names to their stable names. So Rocky was BANJO, Brego was RICKY (I had to admit he does look like a Ricky!) and poor poor Shamus was called ERIN all day. They had some neighbours arrive, donkeys from the animal sanctuary which Brego was not best pleased with! You would think that a horse that can gallop with someone standing up, hanging off the side, sword fighting, jousting or can even jump through fire would NOT be scared of donkeys? But no horse can be perfect!! The show went well and we gave a small demo on how to train a stunt horse which the crowd found educational.

 We had a fabulous Christmas party this past Saturday involving everyone having a go at all the different discipline's we offer. After lots of time try out new stunts we had party food, games and also decorated our own gingerbread horse and rider. To top it all off they went home with Christmas presents from the horses and our very own Riders of the Storm rosettes!

 We are now training hard for the upcoming season and boy do we have some tricks for you!! As well as our current Scottish and Circus themed show we have a new MEDIEVAL show for 2012, so make sure you come see it!!

Some dates of your diary 2012

14th January  Pony Fun Day 9am-1pm
14th January Rider Confidence Course 2-5pm
28th January Trick Riding Day Camp 10.30am-3.30pm
25th February Riders of the Storm 1 year BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Lots more dates to follow!
Keep up to date with us on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Riders-of-the-Storm/162065443842376 become a fan between now a Christmas and be in with a chance of winning 1 of 5 prizes!!

We also sell Gift vouchers for all our courses and lessons which make excellent presents for that someone special!!
Vouchers can be bought online from- http://www.ridersofthestorm.co.uk/horse_riding_lessons/ or email me info@ridersofthestorm.co.uk or phone 07784119377

From everyone at Riders of the Storm we Wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Kind Regards

Kirsty




8 August 2011



Riders of the Storm have had a very busy start to the year; firstly with Drymen show then followed by Perth Racecourse the next weekend and lots of lessons, camps and experience days.
Drymen was our first show of the season so it meant an early rise to get all the horses bathed and looking their very best ready for the long drive to Drymen. As we approached Drymen, the clouds got thicker and darker, threatening to rain-surely Riders of the Storm wouldn’t mind a spot of rain!!
We arrived and got the horses all settled and ready to perform. All tacked up and in our costumes we warmed up the horses. Brego got an extra long warm up as he gets excited at these events with the buzz of the crowd and the different animals from cows and sheep to chickens and rabbits to be seen.
Both performances went well, the horses where superstars and it even stopped raining! Drymen show was a success no rain, 2 great shows but most importantly fun had by all!
Next we where off to Perth racecourse, we warmed up the crowd with our performance in the parade ring before the days racing commenced for the Gold Cup. After our performance we got to go back a watch a couple of the races as the younger members of the team, Amy and Ellie had never been to the races. I even put a bet on and my horse won!!
I’ve put together some video clips of our shows this season so far….
We have also had lots of trick riding & vaulting camps, lessons and experience days and pony fun days to keep us busy, which had been great and there’s lots of stars in the making!   
Check out a small clip about our Pony Fun Days
 
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRidersofthestorm#p/a/u/0/hnAiJAQV44g

We have some different courses coming up
Vaulting camps 10th & 11th August, 12th & 13th October and 19th & 20th October
Pony Fun Days 27th August, 24th September and 15th October
Trick Riding Adults camp 8th October and Kids camp 9th October
Or we also provide Gift Vouchers, Private lessons and Experience days starting from just £15!!

If you would like any more information please contact
Kirsty on 07784119377 or email info@ridersofthestorm.co.uk



10 March 2011

We are now taking booking for our Easter Vaulting training camps!

 6th & 7th April & 13th & 14th April
 10.30am to 3.30pm.

5hrs of vaulting, dance, gymnastics and fun!!!

Book you place today!


call us on 07784 119 377 or email info@ridersofthestorm.co.uk for more infomation